USDA announced that it is opening up the U.S. market to an additional 414,000 tons of foreign sugar. The move was greeted warmly by the by U.S. food and candy makers, who have been clamoring for months for the USDA to allow in more sugar. The U.S. needs more sugar than it produces, but USDA tightly controls imports through a complex TRQ system. USDA each year sets an overall sugar import quota for 40 World Trade Organization countries, not including NAFTA partonneer Mexico. That quota for raw sugar is about 1.2 million tons and currently cannot be raised each year until April 1. The increase announced bring that up to roughly 1.5 million tons for fiscal year 2017, not including the sugar that Mexico is allowed to ship here.